The Masks We Hide Behind
by crimsonmaz
Summary: Trent has told Daria how he feels, problem is it wasn't in the best situation...there's a party...a bout of mistaken identity...and boom! Who knows what happens? T/D...Some swearing may occur...hence the rating!
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: None of the Daria characters belong to me, they belong to the delightful people at MTV. No suing required._

_A/N: My first Daria fanfic, so don't expect something spectacular! Happy Reading!_

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**The Masks We Hide Behind**

**Chapter 1**

"C'mon, we're going shopping." Jane Lane said as she greeted her best friend at the front door of Casa Lane.

"Uh." For once, Daria was speechless. She had arrived at Jane's house expecting to hang out, watch her paint, catch up on missed episodes of Sick Sad World. Or something of the like.

Jane smirked. "Don't worry, I'm not turning into one of the Fashion Victims. We've got to get some stuff for that masquerade party on Friday."

"Huh?" Daria was still confused.

"The one that _Trent's_ band is playing at." Jane emphasised her brother's name. Daria didn't miss the jibe.

"And you just assumed I'd say yes to going?"

"Wrong! I knew you would say yes."

Daria couldn't deny that. Just the mention of Trent's name already cemented her going, although she didn't know why she was still so drawn to him. Damn.

"Okay, so I say yes. But a masquerade party? Since when did we attend lame, themed soirees?"

"For your information, this isn't like your average party. It happens to be hosted by one of Trent's band buddies from way back. I heard he's turned kinda gothic, so it's no surprise he's making this some sort of vampire-centric affair."

"Great, I've always wanted to resemble a member of the living dead. Wait, I think I already do to most people."

Just then Trent appeared behind Jane, minus his shirt, and looking like he was still in the last stages of sleep. Jane grinned broadly at Daria as she saw a red flush slowly creep over her friend's face.

"Yo, Trent."

"Hm?" Trent jumped a little at Jane's voice. "Oh, hey Janey."

"Look who's here." Jane stood out of the way, giving Trent a clear view of a very embarrassed Daria. Trent shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs, and squinted against the bright light of the day outside.

"Hey Daria." There was a bit of a catch in his voice.

"Hi Trent."

"We're going out. Need to grab a couple of things for Krono's party."

"Yeah, I guess I should get the guys to shop for costumes and masks too."

"Well, get a move on. You've got today and tomorrow left. We're going to get a head start."

"Okay. I'll see you later. Bye Daria."

"Bye Trent."

Jane and Daria stepped outside and shut the door behind them.

"Gee Daria, it wouldn't hurt you to say more than, oh, four words when my brother appears in the room."

"Shut up."


	2. Author's Note

Hey everyone who's been reading.

Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I've been busy waiting for university offers, etc - the usual crap. Plus, I've been away for a week. Anyway, one of you has given me strife over not posting a complete story. So, I'm posting a couple more chapters, to keep you guys interested, and then after that I'll only be posting when I've finished the entire thing properly, which will take a while. So if you guys are still with me, I'm real sorry but you'll have to wait a while (might be a long while) for me to post the entire fic.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the next couple of chapters. Not exactly the most exciting parts of the story but, hey, they're important.

Thanks to all of you who have reviewed. Happy reading.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Jane and Daria arrived at the mall in record timing, after making a pit stop at the Morgandorffer household to retrieve some spending money.

They walked around for a while, browsing through the stores and finding nothing until they came across a store they were not familiar with.

"Off Ya Tree? I've never heard of that before." Jane commented speculatively, eyeing the merchandise being sold inside the dimly lit store.

"Neither have I. Let's take a look." Daria said, walking in.

Inside, they found a variety of cult items; ankhs, dream catchers, leather bags filled with some herb meant to ward off evil spirits. Jane was absorbed in an assortment of jewellery that appeared to be made out of blackened pewter, set with some sort of red stone. Daria browsed through the books on ancient, sacrificial rituals.

"Hey Daria, check this out!" Jane called excitedly. Daria looked up to see Jane wearing a pewter choker, a single large red stone set in the middle and smaller stones entwined in tangled vines flaring out from the central piece.

"That doesn't look half bad."

"I know. I think I'll get it for the party. It's kinda got that vampirish vibe to it. And look, I even found something that I think would suit you and that you might even like."

"Uh, thanks, but I don't really do the wearing jewellery thing."

"C'mon, it's a party. Run wild."

"I don't have enough money."

"You're in luck. It's only ten bucks and I know I saw you bring at least fifty with you."

"Fine, fine. But I still don't do jewellery."

"Hey, I bet Trent-" Jane began.

"Don't you dare complete that sentence. Hand me the jewellery."

Jane gave Daria the piece of pewter, smirking.

Daria looked at the piece of jewellery Jane had picked out for her. It was a necklace made of little, flat pewter skulls with a single chain running down the middle holding a small three- dimensional pewter skull, the hollows of its eyes were covered with glittering red stones.

"It does look interesting."

"Just get it already."

"Only to get you off my back."

"Whatever."

They paid for their purchases and emerged into the bright lights of the mall.

"So, what do we do next?" Daria asked, squinting a little, readjusting her eyes from the dim to bright lighting.

"Well, this place isn't much help for what we have in mind. Let's go to Dega Street instead."

"Fine. But you're driving."

"Daria, _I'm_ the one who drove here."

"Right, I just wanted to hear how it would sound out loud."


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"C'mon dude, we've got to figure out what we're playing on Friday. We can't just do our usual stuff. This is a different crowd, people we started out with. Some of 'em have probably heard it a million times already." Jesse explained to Trent.

It was another band practice session at Jesse's house.

"Yeah, I know man. I guess we'll have to do some covers. But which ones?" Trent replied.

"I dunno." Jesse shrugged and scratched his head, thinking.

"Black Hole Sun?"

"Huh? Dude, is there something wrong with the sun?"

"Nah, I'm talking about 'Black Hole Sun' by Sound Garden. We could do that, I still remember the chords and stuff."

"Oh yeah, cool. Hey, what about doing 'Bullet with Butterfly Wings' to open? It kinda ties in with the vampire thing. Well, sorta."

"Sounds good. We still need about another three or four songs."

"Relax dude, one thing at a time."

They jammed for about half an hour, trying to get the chords right.

"Hey man, you ever heard of Our Lady Peace?"

"What, are they some sort of religious group?"

"Dude, no way. They're like a band from Canada who do some pretty heavy stuff, I thought maybe we could do one of their songs."

"Yeah, which one?"

"It's called 'Is Anybody Home?' It's kinda...well you can figure it out when you hear it. I've got the CD so we can have a listen and figure out the chords."

"Cool, crank it."

They listened to the CD for several minutes. After the song had ended, Trent looked a little worried.

"It's a great song. I dunno if I can reach those high notes, though. I don't even know if I can sing it the way they do."

"Dude, you can sing like anyone if you try. I mean, if you're going to sing like Corgan, you can handle this. C'mon, it's like a totally hot song."

"I guess we could try."

"Right on!"

"Well, we'd better get practicing. We've still got to figure out about another two songs that we can play, the sixth one has gotta be something a little special."

"Huh? Special? What's the occasion dude? Other than the party of course."

"You'll see."

"Wait! It's not for...it is!"

Trent just smiled.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"So, how does it look?"

"Jane, if I show you, I think I'll have to kill you."

"C'mon, it can't be _that _bad."

They had gone to a clothing store called Sweet, Sexy & Plain Dirty on Dega Street. The name explained everything.

"No!"

"Daria, either come out yourself or I'll drag you out kicking and screaming."

"Fine. But if you laugh, I will personally slit your throat."

"Deal."

Daria walked out. She was wearing a vinyl halter neck, which fitted her perfectly, except that the bust space was looking a little empty. The leather skirt was a little too big for her small stature. All in all it looked like a terrible ill-fitting, mismatched outfit.

"Hmmm...I guess you weren't kidding." Jane said, suppressing laughter.

Daria gave her a dirty look.

"Okay, okay. No need to look like that. Here I got you another outfit, which will probably look better anyway." She handed Daria what she had picked out.

"Jane, remind me why am I going through this torture again?"

"Um. Because you want to go to this party...to see Trent play?"

Daria sighed as she went back into the fitting room. "Even that reason is pretty void, if you consider what happened last time I was alone with him. And then everything else afterward." She muttered.

"What was that?" Jane called from outside.

"Nothing."

Jane waited for a few minutes before calling out again. "So, any better?"

"Define better. Hold on a minute."

Daria came out for the second time, and Jane was amazed. It was definitely a total transformation. The outfit consisted of a shiny, black, lycra off- the-shoulder top, with large red patch-like stitches randomly scattered across it. It also fell two inches above Daria's belly button and hugged every available curve in its path. The skirt was red vinyl, biased cut, so that one side fell to Daria's knee, while the other only made it to the middle of her thigh; also very figure-skimming. Her combat boots complimented the outfit perfectly.

"Well, well. Who ever thought Miss Daria Morgandorffer had a delectable, little body hidden away under all that drapery?" Jane commented, smirking.

"Ha ha. I feel like a prostitute in this get-up."

"Don't worry. You'll look practically tame in comparison to a lot of the other people who'll be attending."

"And I'm meant to be reassured by that?" Daria's voice dripped sarcasm.

"Oh, come on, no one we know will be there. At least no one that we don't want to be seen by. But in your case-"

"Okay, I'll buy the outfit. On one condition."

"Hmmm.?"

"I don't want to hear Trent's name, if it has anything to do in conjunction with me, until after the party. If ever again."

"Aw, and take away one of my only sources of entertainment?"

"Take it or leave it."

"Well...okay. But only until after the party."

"That'll have to do for now. One slip and I am bringing everything back."

"My lips are sealed." Jane made the motion of closing a zipper across her lips. "I wouldn't want to miss Trent's reaction for the world!"

Daria still looked a little wary. "Have you got your outfit yet?"

"Nah, I don't need to buy one. I've got something at home that will be good enough. Plus I already made our masks too."

"So you're telling me we just wasted this perfectly good day? Shopping? For nothing?"

"I wouldn't say 'nothing'. We got you a little sexy something to wear."

"Hm, Jane Lane, you are still the master of conniving, little acts of supposed self-righteousness."

"Why, thank you, I try my best."

"Whatever, I'm hungry. I'm gonna get changed, pay and then it's pizza." Daria said, her voice muffling as she went back in the stall once more.

"You're the boss."


End file.
